My domain

At the moment I am looking around for a good affordable blog hosting service where I would be able to register a domain name for a blog. There is lots on offer but I am a bit loath to pay too much just for the privilege of having a blog with its own domain name. On the other hand bloggers with more experience than me keep telling me it's imperative to own your blog's domain. I'll keep looking around for a good deal. Any suggestions would be welcome.